


Remus and Regulus Break Sirius Out of Azkaban

by simplysirius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Fade to Black, Feels, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Relationship(s), Remus x Sirius, sirius x remus, wolfstar, wolfstar angst, wolfstar fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:54:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29703654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplysirius/pseuds/simplysirius
Summary: When Sirius is framed for the events of October 31, Regulus recruits Remus to save his older brother before it’s too late.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	Remus and Regulus Break Sirius Out of Azkaban

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @simplysirius for daily fics and fan art! I also take requests :)

“Go away,” Remus grumbled, curled in a sea of darkness, not bothering to light a candle in the empty flat. At least in the shadows, he could pretend he wasn’t alone.

“Go away!” Remus repeated, clamping his hands over his ears as the knocking continued. Sirius was still here. Sirius was not in Azkaban. Sirius was here, holding him now, shaking him awake from this nightmare.

“I said go away!” Remus yelled as someone thrashed against the wood, throwing open the door with his wand at the ready, stopping in his tracks.

It was Sirius. The black hair and slender nose and blue eyes. Sirius was in Azkaban. This boy was taller, his shoulders narrow and jaw sharper than steel, his hair curling over his ears but tidy. Regulus was a near mirror image of his brother, just stretched and pulled different ways.

“I don’t understand–”

“Hurry up,” Regulus chastised, pushing past Remus and rushing into the flat before prying eyes spotted him on the doorstep of the enemy. He slammed the door behind them.

Recoiling as Regulus lit the tip of his wand, Remus stumbled backwards, too dazed to wipe the crystal tattoos off his cheeks. “Sirius–”

“I know,” Regulus interrupted, gritting his teeth. “Where’s the Cloak?”

“What?”

Regulus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, glancing out the window. Night only lasted so long; they were running out of time. “I know you guys had an Invisibility Cloak. We’re going to need it.”

Remus drove the heels of his palms into his eyes, pacing around the room, trying to remember how to breathe, trying not to think about Sirius’ jacket hanging on the wall besides Regulus or his shoes by the door or his tea cup from this morning on the table. “I don’t understand any of this, please just tell me what’s going on, I can’t think right now.”

“We’re infiltrating Azkaban.”

“What?” Remus choked, his voice a mere whisper as he peered at Regulus. There wasn’t a trace of laughter on his face, no crinkled lines from hours spent smiling, like Sirius had.

“We’re getting Sirius back. And I need your help.”

Remus shook his head. “We can’t just waltz into Azkaban and ask nicely.”

“No, we can’t,” Regulus agreed, hooking his fingers around the hem of his sleeve and tugging up the fabric. Even in the dark, the sinister Mark glowed against his alabaster skin. “But I can.”

It was impossible, Remus knew. People didn’t just walk into Azkaban, much less leave. Was there any other choice? If Remus wanted to save Sirius, this was his chance; maybe his only chance. But it was Regulus. Regulus who had taken the Dark Mark as just a child, under the influence of his vile mother and on the wrong side of the war.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t,” Regulus said, “but you have to.”

Remus had only ever read about Azkaban in passing, in no rush to read about the perpetual blanket of grim darkness and death described in so much detail in the restricted section of the library at Hogwarts. Rising up seemingly from the middle of the ocean, the prison loomed above them. Remus was just a few steps away from freeing Sirius, but it felt like miles. He balked at the stairs, his breath hitching as the waves of despair slowly lapped at his body.

Regulus grabbed his elbow roughly. “Remember the plan. If you slip up, we’re dead. You, me, and Sirius. Just stay under the Cloak and don’t let anyone see you.”

Not trusting his voice, Remus just nodded, pulling the Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders and disappearing into the night. He followed Regulus closely – so closely he stepped on the back of his foot twice before Regulus hissed at him to mind his space.

The entrance to the prison was underwhelming, just a tall black door, not even locked as Regulus turned the knob, and the guard, a gawky man with crumbs hanging in his beard, was less than impressive. He jumped to his feet, wand at the ready, though his hands trembled, perhaps due to the frigid temperature, or maybe because the Dementors were only just down the hall, draining the prisoners of their happiness.

“Who are you?” The man demanded.

Regulus lifted his sleeve, unaffected by the wand hovering inches away from his face. “Regulus Black.”

The guard lowered his wand apologetically, cowering at the possibility of retribution. “I apologize, Mr. Black, I didn’t recognize you. This place…is getting to my head, I think.”

“I’m here to see my brother.”

“Mr. Black, we don’t allow visitors–” The guard tried to say, keeping a careful eye on Regulus’ hand as it reached into his jacket.

“I have orders from the Dark Lord,” Regulus insisted, holding an empty vial.

Without another word, the guard rounded the desk. “Of course. This way.”

Regulus wasn’t nervous. He walked down the halls with the authority of a military commander, his nose tipped high in the air and his eyes narrowed, like everyone was beneath him, not worth so much as even the slightest inconsequential glance.

“He’s down here,” the guard said, his wet boots squeaking on the concrete. The Dementors turned only slightly at their presence, held in check by Regulus’ carefully positioned wand, ready to cast a patronus at any moment.

The end of the hallway was dark, the lights hardly reaching back here, and it was quieter, a rhythmic drip of water falling from the ceiling echoing in the chamber. The cell looked empty for a moment, and Remus’ heart immediately froze at the thought of Sirius already damning himself to death, but then, against the back corner, there was movement.

Huddled with his knees in his chest, Sirius’ face paled a sickening gray, maybe from the blanket of death hanging in the air. It had only been a few hours since he was imprisoned, and he hadn’t even felt the full fury of a Dementor tearing at his soul, but the dismal walls of the prison were already enough to drive him mad.

Regulus nodded approvingly, not even looking at the guard as he waved his hand. “Leave us.”

“Mr. Black–”

“Unless you’d like a visit from the Dark Lord, I suggest you leave,” Regulus snapped, venomous words piercing the guard as he rushed back down the hall.

Sirius’ head didn’t lift at the sound of Regulus’ voice reverberating off the walls.

“You probably figured this would happen eventually, huh? Must be a dream come true,” Sirius mumbled, his voice sharp and grating like a sword against a whetstone. “I imagine Mother must be thrilled.”

“She doesn’t know we’re here,” Regulus said lowly.

A pair of strident blue eyes snapped to where Regulus stood, flickering around, looking for another body. “We?”

Remus lifted the Invisibility Cloak just enough for a sliver of his face to peek out, revealing one tearful honeyed eye on the other side of the thick cell bars. “We.”

“Don’t make a sound,” Regulus warned as Sirius scrambled to his feet, lurching towards him, scraping his knees on the concrete in his haste. “Do not say a single word until I say so.”

Sirius clamped his teeth on his lips, nodding quietly, his eyes not leaving the space where Remus stood, once again tucked carefully beneath the Cloak. For so many years, Sirius had been the one saving Remus, healing his wounds, carrying him back to the castle, making him tea and holding his hand during those long days spent laying in bed. And here Remus was, an invisible knight ready to carry him away, saving him from himself.

And then there was Regulus. The brother he had left behind, the brother who glared at him across the Great Hall during every meal, the brother he thought he had lost. Somehow, they had found each other in the most desolate of places. Two stars desperately shining in the sky, persisting through the thick clouds rolling in.

Tapping his wand against the lock on the door, Regulus pushed Remus into the cell, quickly closing the latch before the guard could come back.

When Regulus had told him the plan, this was the part that froze Remus’ lungs; would Regulus trap them both? Lock the door and run, successfully taking down another Order member? But Remus had to trust him. Trust was the only thing that would free Sirius.

“Come on,” Remus whispered, draping the Cloak around him. It wasn’t at easy to manage as when they were kids; Remus was taller, Sirius wider, and the Cloak was only so big. Crouching was the only way Remus could hide their feet, bodies pressed tightly together to stay hidden. Sirius welcomed the warmth of Remus’ skin, shivering as the blood slowly filled back into his skin.

Regulus held the door open as the boys waddled out of the cell, and then quietly closed it, marching back down the hallway towards the ocean.

“Find what you needed?” The guard asked,

“Yes,” Regulus said pleasantly, digging into his pocket and revealing a thin tube, the glittering liquid sloshing around inside the glass. As it turns out, water mixed with craft store sparkles makes for an impressive Pensieve memory duplicate. “The Dark Lord will be most satisfied.”

Before the guard could say another word, Regulus turned on his heel and disappeared out the door, slamming the heavy metal shut to hide the sound of three earthshattering cracks resounding across the ocean, apparating away.

Sirius collapsed to the floor the moment they arrived back at the flat in London, his knees, too weak to support the heavy tears streaming down his cheeks as he held onto Remus, his fingers clawing at his sweater, his hair, his skin.

“I didn’t do it, Remus. I don’t know how it happened but...”

“I know,” Remus nodded tearfully, holding their bodies tightly together so that no matter what happened, Sirius couldn’t slip through his fingers again. “I know, it’s okay. I’m here.”

“I love you,” Sirius murmured, taking Remus’ face between his hands and pressing a thousand kisses on his lips, a lifetime of kisses he thought, just a few hours ago, he would miss, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Regulus leaned on the back of the sofa, arms crossed in his chest, watching the two carefully, his lips twisted to the side. 

Sirius only broke away from Remus to glance up at Regulus, gathering all the strength he could muster and climbing to his feet. Swaying unsteadily, he fell into Regulus, wrapping his brother in an impossibly tight embrace. “I don’t know how to…I could never…Thank you, Reg.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Regulus finally said, draping his arms around Sirius’ waist. His grip was weak at first, the feel of his brother against him so unfamiliar, but as the clock on the wall quietly ticked away, his arms constricted tighter. “You would have done the same for me.”

It was true. They had fought and thrown hexes and spewed endless insults at each other, but they were brothers. Regulus was Sirius’ baby brother, and even in the midst of battle, he knew it was his job to protect him.

“You two need to hide,” Regulus instructed, pulling away abruptly. “Tonight. I don’t know where you’d go. Somewhere far. Somewhere they won’t look. If they don’t know you escaped already, they’ll know soon.”

Remus nodded. “What about you? They’ll know you were the one who broke him out.”

Regulus pressed his lips together in a hard line, rubbing the palms of his hands against his trousers. He glanced around the flat, just barely able to make out the pictures on the wall of a couple smiling Gryffindors through the years, before his eyes found Sirius again. He looked at his brother hard, as if trying to memorize his features.

“Reg?” Sirius said uncertainly.

“I have something else I need to do,” Regulus announced, “but I needed to make things right first.”

Sirius shook his head, grabbing for Regulus’ wrist. “What’s going on?”

Regulus’ hands balled into fists as every muscle in his body pulled taut. He knew it would be hard. He knew that breaking Sirius out of Azkaban would be easy, compared to this. He didn’t expect it to hurt so much, his chest burning as he cut each heartstring away. “I love you. Even after you left, I still loved you. Nothing you do will ever change that.”

“Regulus–”

“I’m proud to be your brother, Sirius.”

With a loud crack, Regulus was gone.


End file.
